Sakura Blossoms
by Deathangel113
Summary: Beneath the sakura tree red butterflies flitted about where she rested. A companion piece to "Crown of Thorns".


************************************Disclaimer: Vampire Knight is the property of Matsuri Hino. I hold neither affiliation nor ownership to it. The characters Kenta, Shiriko, Takeshi, and Old Yagari though, are of my own creation.************************************

 _Warnings: Mild Violence and Death - This is referenced to in regards to past incidents._

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Many years before he first saw her he had encountered her great-grandfather. Old Yagari had tracked him for many days and had proven to be quite the irritant. At the time Takeshi had been tempted to turn him as he did the few individuals whom he had chosen. When the man had managed to corner him he decided otherwise. The old man's drive was admirable and for that he respected him. Still, he had left the hunter with a broken arm as a warning to not pursue him again. He had not listened. Had both of the councils not interfered Takeshi was certain that they both would have eventually died. Instead the hunter had been ordered to cease his pursuit or be offered to the vampire council for execution. To his own surprise Old Yagari had obeyed and thirty years later he finally died. His family buried him under a sakura tree that years later her window would look out over.

The huntress had admittedly intrigued him. She had been a black sheep amongst the society of hunters and her own family. Compassion for humans and vampires alike made her someone to be regarded with suspicion. He had observed that hesitancy within her own family. He himself was guilty of that as well. She was unique and he had difficulty trusting that. If she reminded him of Old Yagari he chose to use that as even greater reason to avoid her path. Still, that same compassion drew him to her and he found himself seeking her out more frequently. Most often he would just stand in the shadow of the treeline watching her at the Yagari home. When she looked out the window he knew that she was aware of him.

Each time that he left he said that he would not return. Then he found himself near her again and again until one day he finally spoke to her. She had allowed him to be near her though, he could sense her own distrust. While her grandfather had been eager to strike him down she stayed her hand. Takeshi was not certain if it was because of his own immunity to the laws of the hunters or because of her personal curiosity. He sensed that he was the first pureblood that she had encountered in her young life.

After that brief encounter he resolved himself with settling for having met her. He did not need to know her, that Shiriko, but then he continued to come to her until the day that she treated him as a comrades and maybe even a friend.

When he learned of her marriage he desired to take her away from Kenta. Takeshi knew what type of man that this hunter was and that man did not deserve her. He had expected her to defy her father's will. He had anticipated that she would leave or deny the marriage. Then she had married Kenta. At that moment he saw her as weak.

For a time that perception of weakness kept him away from her. That did not last long and he again found himself seeking her out if only to be by her side. In their reunion he began to understand her strength to live with a man like Kenta. His admiration for her grew and then one night he found himself in her bed.

After that night he did not want to leave Shiriko in that house. She had said that she would not leave. In spite of his attempts to sway her will she refused. So he stopped speaking about the matter. He knew that she would send him away if he pushed too hard. In time she finally allowed Kenta to touch her to hide the fruit of their union. Then she did finally send him away. This time he defied her and returned inspite of her warnings. The old woman charged with watching Shiriko was simple enough to distract. That was not enough and he underestimated the will of that old woman and the guile of Kenta. Through Shiriko he learned of Kenta's growing suspicion and of her belief that Kenta may have already sensed the infant's lineage. So they fled, but they were too late.

Kenta had indeed unraveled the truth and he had contacted her father to help amend the situation. Shiriko was fighting him when he had arrived. He managed to intervene and when Kenta finally lay bloodied on the ground she had chosen to allow him to live. Their escape should have then been simple, but her father pursued them and he was left with no other option but to strike him down. That cursed Yagari bloodline was their undoing. If the child had not come early...

Now she lay with Old Yagari under that sakura tree.

When he came to her now he discovered red butterflies flitting about the fresh graves. He took this as a sign that she was finally free. Each subsequent visit the creatures continued to thrive until one day he arrived to discover them all dead. The sight disturbed him. No obvious harm had been committed against the creatures. When he looked closer he found that the grass about her grave had turned brown. The decay seemed to have begun to creep up the trunk of the tree. The omen spoke of death, but he was not so certain.


End file.
